ARTICLES ABOUT NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION BY DATE - PAGE 2

Normally these teens can't appreciate a crisp cabernet or lush merlot, but at CityPlace Uncorked they'll get their first taste of the restaurant business. CityPlace Uncorked is an annual food and wine tasting event, 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday at the Harriet Himmel Theatre, where guests can sample wines from around the world and signature recipes from 10 local restaurants, including L'Opera, Leila and Mark's CityPlace. Proceeds benefit ProStart, a program by the National Restaurant Association that helps students get the skills to make a professional start in the food service business, something industry officials said is desperately needed.

National Public Radio, which Republicans love to flog for "liberal bias," began a discussion last week about gasoline conservation with: "When you go to McDonald's or Wendy's, park the car, get out, go in and buy your hamburger instead of sitting at the window, letting it idle." How American. Get out of the car to save gas. I figure if that happened on the "liberal airwaves," it demonstrates how junk-food marketeers have conquered the national psyche. This is ironic because the majority of major fast-food chains, including McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut, Domino's, KFC, Taco Bell and their lobbying arms, the National Restaurant Association and the American Beverage Association, give the vast majority of their political contributions to GOP causes.

Get a job flipping burgers, and your new boss might offer insurance for Fido. Or if you sign on to wait tables, you may tap your employer for funds to offset adoption costs. The nation's labor-intensive restaurant industry -- with its notoriously high turnover rate -- is caught in a labor crunch. Restaurant outlets are expanding faster than the pool of workers, and potential workers are seeking jobs in other industries as the recovery picks up steam. In response, restaurateurs are offering the entrepreneurial equivalent of candy and flowers.

For those who celebrate Mother's Day in restaurants (four out of 10 Americans do, according to the National Restaurant Association), the holiday should be renamed "Take your mom to an all-you-can-eat-buffet-and-wait-an-hour-to-be-seated" Day. I don't understand why anyone exposes a loved one to that treatment. But maybe that's because I love to cook. And I got that love from my mother's obsession with food and gathering the family around the table. So this is her day. Growing up in our house was all about food.

The fast-food industry's highly profitable practice of serving bigger portions has become a lightning rod for criticism by nutritionists and health advocacy groups who blame "portion distortion" for the bloating of America, a trend with unhealthy consequences. Among other things, these critics are calling for legislation requiring restaurants to disclose calorie levels on menus and are particularly critical of chains' growing practice of "super-sizing" meals. They cite research showing that consumers who are served more tend to eat more.

The tab for a 10-year legal battle against federal regulators has surpassed $1 million, nearly tenfold more than the original fine had Joe's Stone Crab Inc. paid it after being found guilty of discriminating against women. But the family behind the landmark Miami Beach eatery says it's determined to clear its name and right what they see as an overzealous Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that tainted their business, literally and figuratively making a big federal case out of it. Today, family members and their lawyers go before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals' three-judge panel for a second round in a bid to overturn discrimination charges dating to the late 1980s.

A CHIP TIP: Pass the salsa with these better-for-you, homemade chips from Cooking Light magazine: Cut flour or corn tortillas into 8 wedges; place on a baking sheet. Coat wedges with no-stick cooking spray; bake at 350 degrees 10 minutes or until lightly browned. - Suzanne Loudermilk Ring it up: Celluar phones are playing a greater role in the way we eat. According to a new study by the National Restaurant Association, 41 percent of all cellular-phone users ring up restaurants to order food takeout or delivery.

Once America was a nation that knew how to live. We chowed down plates of fettuccine Alfredo, craved kung pao chicken and plunged into buckets of butter-soaked popcorn at the movies. We reveled in our gluttony. That was then, this is now. In many restaurants and homes in the United States, indulgence is out, thanks in large part to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an organization celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. CSPI is the party-pooper watchdog that has dedicated three decades to warning Americans that some of our favorite foods could be hazardous to our health.

In a case closely watched by the National Restaurant Association and others, the federal judge in the Joe's Stone Crab employment discrimination lawsuit has changed his original ruling to say the famed Miami Beach eatery intentionally discriminated against women. U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley made the change to comply with an appeals court order that found the discrimination at Joe's of not hiring female servers was intentional, as argued in the original lawsuit by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

By MARCIA HEROUX POUNDS business writer and Staff Writer Ardy Friedberg contributed to this report, February 28, 2001

At a McDonald's restaurant in Margate, a restaurant manager faces an aggravated battery charge against a customer who she says was abusive. A fracas outside a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Pembroke Pines results in accusations against the employee and the customer. These two recent instances are individual situations still being investigated by police. But customer service experts say such incidents are more likely to occur when the demand for good, fast service collides with a still-tight labor market and reliance on young employees with little or no training in handling customer conflicts.